There was a time when our little boy did not like to go to
church, and would get up in the morning, and say to his mother, "What day
is tomorrow?" "Tuesday." "Next day?"
"Wednesday." "Next day?" "Thursday;" and so on,
till he came to the answer, "Sunday." "Dear me," he said. I
said to the mother, "We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday in this
way; that will never do. That is the way I used to feel when I was a boy. I used
to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of dread. Very few kind words were
associated with the day. I don't know that the minister ever put his hand on my
head. I don't know that the minister ever noticed me, unless it was when I was
asleep in the gallery, and he woke me up. This kind of thing won't do; we must
make the Sunday the most attractive day of the week; not a day to be dreaded;
but a day of pleasure." Well, the mother took the work up with this boy.
Bless those mothers in their work with the children. Sometimes I feel as if I
would rather be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox that
have all the glories in the world. Those mothers who are faithful with the
children God has given them will not go unrewarded. My wife went to work and
took those Bible stories and put those blessed truths in a light that the child
could comprehend, and soon the feeling of dread for the Sabbath with the boy was
the other way. "What day's to-morrow?" he would ask.
"Sunday." "I am glad." And if we make those Bible truths
interestingóbreak them up in some shape so that the children can get at them,
then they will begin to enjoy them.